I've been extremely housebound this winter. Brewing has kept me sane. I've done 8 brews thus far in 2008 ! What a great winter it has been brew wise.

I'm not looking for praise and I'm not bragging. Small batches (3 gallons) and steam mashing rock !

Brew #1 was a 7 year old extract kit. I brewed it in the kitchen, using a split boil and made a mess. I tried chilling it in the snowbank, which took forever. Pitched the yeast and it wouldn't ferment. Then it got infected. I ended up dumping it. The whole experience of getting the LME out of the can turned me off extract brewing again ! This was the worst brewing experience I ever had.

Brew #2 was my first attempt at microwave mashing. It fermented, but the beer was extremely thin with hardly any alcohol. I dumped it.

Brew #3 was the second attempt at microwave mashing. A honey brown lager. Really poor yield, topped it up with corn sugar. Its a drinkable beer, but certainly nothing special. That was the end of microwave mashing.

Brew #4 was my cranberry ale. First steam mash. Every beer I brewed after this was steam mashed. Hit the SG with no problems. Its an excellent beer, although I wonder if my LHBS got the ingredients right because its darker than I think it should be. Its opened my interest in dark beers.

Brew #5 was a Corona clone. First time I ever mashed with corn. Hit SG ! Its not a perfect clone, but SWMBO says they are good.

Brew #6 was a Blue Moon Clone. First time with liquid yeast. Also I split the yeast into 8 and froze them with glycerin. This one is in the secondary now. I'll bottle it in a few days.

Brew #7 was a Newcastle clone brown ale for SWMBO. Just a really simple, easy beer to do.

Brew #8 was a Red Herring Red Lager. I did it last night. I overshot the mash temp, so it will be a bit sweeter than normal, and the ingredients are messed up a bit, but it will still be an interesting beer. I got 33 points per pound yield on this beer.

I did every brew except the first on a Saturday night, usually while watching a movie or doing something with my wife. Coolers rock for temperature control.

I normally don't brew during the summer. There are a few beers I would like to do yet before I shut down. As long as the weather stays cold and ugly, I'll continue brewing.

I sure have learned a lot through all of this. The yeast splitting and steam mashing were two big steps forward for me. In the future, I'll be testing the mash monitor system and possibly live pH measurement in the mash. Stay tuned !

This is a very deep, addicting hobby. The never ending pursuit of the perfectly brewed beer !

This site is excellent. Thanks to everyone here for answering my questions and putting up with my posts !

Congrats man! Your steam mashing is deffinatly interesting and I think it is in my future...

but I have to say....you suck

I'm going to be forced to stop brewing pretty soon bc it's already getting up to the 80's! I'm going to give belgians a try with WY 3726....good up to 90! Plus there is no way I could do lagers without some sort of mechanical intervention...

greenhornet, it's 37°F in Austin today and we're only up the road from you, what say four hours? Don't stop brewing in the summer, just build you a fermentation chiller. I got mine together for less than $50 and that was lock, stock, and barrel. I know of someone else who bought one off of craigslist. This hobby is way too addicting to stop brewing in the summer. Just brew it.

Uh huh. I just brewed #7 & #8 yesterday. Gotta get in all I can before the temps skyrocket. Yeah, we had low 80's early last week...I planted my hop rhizomes, everything in our gardens was coming out like crazy. Then, come thursday and friday, we saw freezing temps at night. Saturday morning, we woke up to a dusting of SNOW. And this is in VA, damnit. Ugh. So, yeah, I still had to put my heating pad on the Bitter I brewed yesterday. But I think I just might have all I need for the warmer months. I bottled my pils, which is gonna be nice and refreshing. I've got a couple of wheat beers finishing up primary right now. And the summerdunkel, while it'll take a few months before it's ready, should rock some faces.